The City State of Wyrmspire
Wyrmspire "Have you heard the rumblings" "The mountain stirs once more" "Beneath its crags, cliffs and rocks" "There is evil in its core" "Fire made flesh" "Dragon's breath" "Teeth and claws and flame" "Calling any heroes out there" "That are brave" "Or just insane!" - Song of the Wyrmspire, by Bittonian bard Peter McConnell Geography The holdings of the city state of Wyrmspire comprise of a volcanic mountain range that separates Bittonia from the sea. The peaks are rife with volcanic activity, although there hasn't been an eruption in many centuries, and forests grow strong and tall atop the fertile soil dredged up by continuous lava flows. The city of Wyrmspire proper was carved inside the tallest mountain of the range, a relatively dormant volcano vomiting lava in controlled flows through tunnels carved by the dragonkin along the centuries. Resources Wyrmspire exports, primarily, stone. Marble and granite for construction, obsidian for decoration, onyx for... Decoration and necromancy, you name it, if it was mined, odds are it came from Wyrmspire. The country has problems producing food, however. And has imported that in great quantities ever since they stopped simply raiding Bittonian villages and Ramdranti tribes for cattle and unlucky peasants. The dragonfolk do have expertise in fishing, and much of the local cuisine is centered on seafood. Society The dragonfolk of Wyrmspire function under a heavily stratified society ordered around race. Regardless of race, each citizen of the country belongs to one of its great clans. At the bottom of their ladder are the kobolds, tiny, frail and quite stupid, even those that are not. The kobolds of Wyrmspire are not exactly slaves, but most outsiders are hard pressed to see the difference. Kobolds form the majority of the population of Wyrmspire, living primarily in their underground cities as direct attendants of the dragonkin and in mining colonies along the mountains. The lizardfolk form the middle layer of the racial ladder. Unlike kobolds, they mostly live in the forests and shorelines of Wyrmspire, not underground. The dragonkin form the upper levels of society, further divided into those with or without wings (functionality of said wings is irrelevant). Nearly every city, village and camp under the control of Wyrmspire has an acting dragonkin governor officially leading the local kobolds and lizardfolk, but for all intents and purposes merely lounging about hoarding wealth and not really interfering with the daily work of his subordinates in the slightest. The clans are the central pillar of Wyrmspire's society. A clan is an aggregate of a few different families of dragonkin, several broods of lizardfolk and numerous clutches of kobolds. Several clans of various sizes and power exist, most broken off from one of the five major clans. Ebonwing, the black dragons, currently rule the wyrmspire under the leadership of Orethras Ebonwing. The Ebonwing clan traditionally keeps most of its holdings along the shorelines and manages Wyrmspire's infamous Black Fleet, a longstanding thorn in the side of the navies of most other countries in the world. Crimscale, the red dragons, are the majority dwellers of Wyrmspire city proper, the ones who manage the molten forges and who provided a larger share of leaders for Wyrmspire than any other clan. Palemaw, the white dragons, dwell in the frozen peaks and have managed the nation's supply of ice and fresh water, the fewest leaders of wyrmspire to date have come from the Palemaw clan. Jadecrest, the green dragons, have their holdings in the forests between Wyrmspire and Bittonia, and have produced some of the greatest druids Nestoria has seen outside of Ramdrant. When bittonians think of dragons, they remember the green scales and sleek forms of the Jadecrest clan before any other. Skyhorn, the blue dragons, hold sway over the crags and cliffs overseeing the border with the deserts of Del'Ci. Wyrmspire has traditionally never been aggressive towards its mother nation, and the Skyhorns benefited greatly from the trade routes in their territory. Religion The Dragon Cult is strong in this one! Politics For a long time, recognizing Wyrmspire as a nation was far from the thoughts of any Bittonian ruler, and in fact, there was a time when the lot of they were considered a leftover from a Ramdranti invasion of the past. Disregarding the fact that, given the opportunity, Wyrmspire was just as likely to raid the monster confederacy as it was to assault any other country. It was only in fairly recent time, no more than a century really, that Wyrmspire became more of a real player in the political scenario, as opposed to something between a viking army and a cloud of fire-spitting locusts. By most accounts, this change of attitude stems from decisions taken by the current 'Drake' of Wyrmspire, Orethras Ebonwing.